Spider-Man
is a Japanese tokusatsu TV series aired from May 17, 1978 to March 14, 1979 on TV Tokyo 12 Channel. It was produced by Toei Company, Ltd and slightly based off the Marvel Comics series of the same name. "Spider-Man" is notable because it is Toei's first series to use the concept of the hero fighting a monster which enlarges, requiring the hero to summon a giant robot to battle it. This became a staple of Super Sentai beginning with'' Battle Fever J. Plot Young motorcycle racer Takuya Yamashiro sees a UFO falling to earth, in fact a space warship named the "Marveller" from the planet "Spider". Takuya's father Dr. Hiroshi Yamashiro, a space archaeologist, investigates the case, but is killed upon finding the spaceship. The incident also brings the attention of Professor Monster and his evil , an alien group that plans to rule the universe. Takuya follows his father to the Marveller and discovers the last survivor of Spider, who gives him a bracelet that gives him special spider-like powers and the ability to control the ship and transform it into a giant robot called "Leopardon" for battle. Using his powers, he fights Professor Monster's army and other threats to Earth under the name Spider-Man. Characters Spider-Man Allies *Hitomi Sakuma *Shinko Yamashiro *Takuji Yamashiro *Dr. Yamashiro *Garia *Ichiro Murakami *Juzo Mamiya *Detective Go Tachibana Iron Cross Army *Professor Monster *Amazoness/Saeko Yoshida *Bella *Rita *Ninders Machine Bem *Machine Bem Boukunryu (1) *Machine Bem Soutoukin (2) *Machine Bem Genyouchu (3) *Machine Bem Mer-Man (4) *Machine Bem Chojinju (5) *Machine Bem Robacular (6) *Machine Bem Sasora (7) *Machine Bem Cat Demon Monster (8) *Machine Bem Kabuton (9) *Machine Bem Snake Woman (10) *Machine Bem Sea Devil (Movie) *Machine Bem Shinkaioh (11) *Machine Bem Biker Monster (13) *Machine Bem Big Bat (14) *Machine Bem Killer Unicorn (15) *Machine Bem Centipede (16) *Machine Bem Samson (17) *Machine Bem Carnivorous Plant (18) *Machine Bem Kamenger (19) *Machine Bem Primitive Man (20) *Machine Bem Tanto Buffalo (21) *Machine Bem Skeleton Beast (22) *Machine Bem Sorceress Beast (23) *Machine Bem Cockroach Machine (24) *Machine Bem Ganima (25) *Machine Bem Volcano Beast (26) *Machine Bem Kinokongar (31) *Machine Bem Fire Fox (33) *Machine Bem Scrapman (34) *Machine Bem Tiger Pump (35) *Machine Bem Toothache Alligator (38) Arsenal Weapons *'Spider Protector': Spider-Man's suit. *'Spider Bracelet': Spider-Man's henshin device. *'Spider Strings': A rope made of spider webbing shot from Spider-Man's Spider Bracelet. *'Spider Net': A net made of spider webbing also shot from Spider-Man's Spider Bracelet. *'Spider Machine GP-7': Spider-Man's flying car. *'Leopardon': Spider-Man's mecha. Episodes Cast * : *Hitomi Sakuma: Rika Miura *Shinko Yamashiro: Izumi Oyama *Takuji Yamashiro: Yoshiharu Yabuki *Professor Monster: Mitsuo Ando *Amazoness: Yukie Kagawa *Garia: Toshiaki Nishizawa *Dr. Hiroshi Yamashiro: Fuyuki Murakami *Juzo Mamiya: Noboru Nakaya *Rita: Rie Rinehart *Bella: Tina Margo *Narrator: Toru Ohira *Spider-Man (suit actor): Hirofumi Koga Spider-Man Actors/Actress who have appeared in the Super Sentai Series *Mitsuo Ando - Professor Monster ** ( ) *Shozo Iizuka - Machine Bem ** and ( ) ** ( ) ** ( ) ** ( ) ** ( ) **Morgumorgu ( ) ** ( ) ** ( ) *Yukie Kagawa - Amazoness ** ( ) *Hiroshi Miyauchi - Detective Go Tachibana ** /Aorenger ( ) ** /Big One ( , '' , and ) ** ( , and ) *Noboru Nakaya - Juzo Mamiya ** ( ) *Shinji Todo - Takuya Yamashiro/Spider-Man ** ( ) Notes *Spider-Man was the first of Toei's series to use a giant robot to fight evil. *This version of Spider-Man will appear alongside his comic book counterparts and the 1960s cartoon Spider-Man in crossover event Spider-Verse, starting in The Amazing Spider-Man volume 3 issue 9. *Spider-Man was originally going to have a sequel in , which would have featured a hero called Captain Japan, who was going to just basically be Captain America's equivalent. *Until 2013, Marvel had the entire series available to view for free on its website. This is most likely due to licensing issues with Toei, as some of the characters of the show were created by them and thus trademarked to Toei Co LTD. **The same problem applies to Toei, as they borrowed the rights to Spider-Man character from Marvel and thus any potential future video release is impossible unless authorized by Marvel Entertainment, who is now owned by the Walt Disney Company. ***The companies did manage an agreement in 2005 for a Japanese DVD Release, but the commercials advertised that this would be the ONLY time it would ever see release, as both companies would not agree a deal to future re-releases or a Region 1 DVD release. **This can be compared to the infamous licensing issues which plagued the Batman 1966 TV series, as legal battles between 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers kept the series held from getting any kind of home video release for 48 years. **In 2014, the Toku Spider-Man will be appearing in American comics for the first time as part of a Spider-Verse event which will cross-over many of the existing Spider-Men throughout comics and other media. ***Leopardon also appears. External Links *Spider-Man at Wikipedia *Archived Marvel page *Toei no Supaidaman (TV series) at the Marvel Wiki *http://web.archive.org/web/20100210162222/http://www.henshinhalloffame.com/spiderman/